Leopold Kirschner

Leopold Kirschner MD (born 12 May 1889, died 23 November 1970) was an Austro-Hungarian, Dutch, and New Zealand bacteriologist specializing in leptospirosis.[1] He is known for his work on the survival of Leptospira spp in the environment,[2][3] research on conditions and media for Leptospira growth,[4][5][6] his role in the initial discoveries of leptospirosis in New Zealand,[7][8] for early epidemiologic descriptions of leptospirosis as an occupational disease of dairy farmers,[9] and for the major pathogenic Leptospira species, Leptospira kirschneri, that was named in his honor.[10]

Early life and education

Kirschner was born in Andrichau, near Bielitz, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, (present-day Andrychów, Poland) to Jewish parents. He studied medicine in Vienna. Kirschner's studies were interrupted by service in the medical corps during World War One. Following the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kirschner followed Professor Robert Doerr, an experimental pathologist,[11] to Amsterdam for further studies at the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT), the Dutch Royal Tropical Institute. KIT housed the first leptospirosis reference laboratory in Europe.[12][13]

Career and research

Pasteur Institute, Bandung, Dutch East Indies

In 1921 Kirschner joined the Pasteur Institute[14] at Bandung, Java, in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) where he served as Deputy Director of the Institute under Louis Otten.[15] The Institute was responsible for preparing vaccines and carrying out diagnostic services for 70 million people. While there, Kirschner undertook important work on the survival in the environment of the bacteria that causes leptospirosis,[2] and he and a colleague developed an effective vaccine against plague, testing early versions on themselves. Kirschner’s work in Java was cut short by the Japanese invasion in 1942. He and wife Alice, a gifted violinist from Vienna, survived and provided considerable covert assistance to other prisoners using his scientific knowledge.[16]

University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Kirschner was recruited to the University of Otago Medical School by Dr – later Sir – Charles Hercus in 1946, to the Medical Research Council Microbiology Unit.[17] At the time of his arrival, New Zealand was considered to be free of leptospirosis, an assumption based in part on the absence of native terrestrial mammalian hosts.[18] However, Kirschner noted that many mammalian species that could serve as hosts of Leptospira spp had been introduced to New Zealand, and that measures at ports to prevent rats being imported on ships were weak.[7] Kirschner hypothesized that leptospirosis was very likely to be present and responsible for febrile illness among farmers in New Zealand. He established a leptospirosis reference laboratory at the University of Otago Medical School, confirming with Dr – later Sir – Edward G. Sayers, future Dean of the Otago Medical School, human leptospirosis in New Zealand for the first time in a sharemilker from Auckland in 1949.[7] Then with Mr – later Professor – A. Neil Bruère the first livestock and occupational disease outbreak among dairy farm workers in Westland in 1951.[8] Kirschner promoted close collaboration between human and animal health experts, known today as the ‘One Health’ approach. Kirschner and colleagues went on to describe the major leptospirosis problem among dairy farmers in New Zealand;[9] studied factors supporting and inhibiting Leptospira growth;[4][5][6] and procedures for the culture, isolation, and identification Leptospira.[6] Kirschner was an important early influence on the career of a generation of leptospirosis experts, including Professor Solomon Faine,[19] Monash University, and Professor Roger Marshall,[20] Massey University. Kirschner died in Dunedin on 23 November 1970 and is buried with wife Alice Kirschner at the Dunedin Southern Cemetery.[21]

Honors and recognition

In 1992 Marshall and colleagues named the major pathogenic Leptospira species Leptospira kirschneri for Kirschner.[10]

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References
  1. Whitcombe, E.; Maze, M.J.; Crump, J.A. (2020). "Leopold Kirschner, Edward Sayers, and Neil Bruère: the initial descriptions of leptospirosis in New Zealand". Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 44 (1): 5–7. doi:10.1111/1753-6405.12946. ISSN 1753-6405. PMID 31667900.
  2. Kirschner, L. "Umwandlungsversuche an wasserspirochaeten". Z Hyg Infektionskr. 113: 48–60.
  3. Kirschner, L.; Maguire, T. (1957). "Survival of Leptospira outside their hosts". The New Zealand Medical Journal. 56 (314): 385–391. ISSN 0028-8446. PMID 13465012.
  4. Kirschner, L.; Maguire, T. (1955). "Antileptospiral effect of milk". The New Zealand Medical Journal. 54 (303): 560–564. ISSN 0028-8446. PMID 13288814.
  5. Kirschner, L.; Maguire, T.; Bertaud, W. S. (1957). "Further Evidence of the Antileptospiral Effect of Milk: Electron Microscopic Studies". British Journal of Experimental Pathology. 38 (4): 357–361. ISSN 0007-1021. PMC 2082602. PMID 13460180.
  6. Kirschner, L.; Graham, L. (1959). "Growth, Purification and Maintenance of Leptospira on Solid Media". British Journal of Experimental Pathology. 40 (1): 57–60. ISSN 0007-1021. PMC 2082293. PMID 13638484.
  7. Kirschner, L.; Gray, W. G. (1951). "Leptospirosis in New Zealand; infection with spirochaetes in animals and man". The New Zealand Medical Journal. 50 (278): 342–351. ISSN 0028-8446. PMID 14882570.
  8. Bruere, A.N. (1952). "An association between leptospirosis in calves and man". Aust Vet J. 28: 174.
  9. Faine, S.; Kirschner, L. (1953). "Human leptospirosis in New Zealand, 1951-1952". The New Zealand Medical Journal. 52 (287): 12–14. ISSN 0028-8446. PMID 13054918.
  10. Ramadass, P.; Jarvis, B. D.; Corner, R. J.; Penny, D.; Marshall, R. B. (1992). "Genetic characterization of pathogenic Leptospira species by DNA hybridization". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 42 (2): 215–219. doi:10.1099/00207713-42-2-215. ISSN 0020-7713. PMID 1581182.
  11. Berger, S. (2010). "«Sie hätten in ein grosses Institut hinein- gehört» – Robert Doerr und der Boom der Basler Hygiene" (PDF). Universität Basel.
  12. "WHO | Leptospirosis". WHO. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  13. "Leptospirosis Reference Centre". Leptospirosis Reference Centre. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  14. JackTour, Diposkan oleh Redaksi. "Institute Pasteur Bandung". Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  15. "KNAW Historisch Ledenbestand | Digitaal Wetenschapshistorisch Centrum". web.archive.org. 2019-04-19. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  16. "Leopold Kirschner". The New Zealand Medical Journal. 72 (463): 414–415. 1970. ISSN 0028-8446. PMID 4925987.
  17. Magazine, Otago. "Unsung scientist". www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  18. Crump, J. A.; Murdoch, D. R.; Baker, M. G. (2001). "Emerging infectious diseases in an island ecosystem: the New Zealand perspective". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 7 (5): 767–772. doi:10.3201/eid0705.017501. ISSN 1080-6040. PMC 2631882. PMID 11747690.
  19. "Solly Faine". www.antimicrobe.org. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  20. Manktelow, B.W. (2001). "Obituary: Roger Brereton Marshall". N Z Vet J. 49: 252–3.
  21. "Obituary: Dr. L. Kirchner was research pioneer". Otago Daily Times. 24 November 1970. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
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